Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service double

03/08/11
Financial News

New figures published by the Financial Ombudsman Services (FOS) have shown a dramatic increase in the number of complaints they have received over the past quarter.

Around 70% of the complaints received by FOS over the past three months have been in relation to Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), sold to cover loans and credit card repayments in the event of illness or unemployment.

During this period the number of complaints received by FOS in respect of PPI mis-selling averaged more than 900 per day, this period saw the High Court decision and judicial review on PPI and the decision by the British Bankers Association not to appeal.

Reaction

The principal ombudsman and decisions director at the FOS, Tony Boorman, said: “The first three months of the financial year were the busiest ever quarter for the Financial Ombudsman Service. We received over 81,000 complaints – more than double the number we received in the same period last year.”

He continued “During the period of that judicial review, our ability to progress cases against many banks and other financial businesses was seriously hampered, meaning that fewer cases than we had planned were resolved. That had an impact on the ‘uphold rate’, as inevitably it was the cases that we thought should be upheld that proved most difficult to finalise.”

Other complaints

The majority of complaints during the period were in relation to PPI. However, consumer credit and mortgage related complaints have shown a small increase during this period with complaints about current accounts falling slightly.

Interestingly FOS also saw the first complaints about home emergency cover during this period.